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Lately, I've been all over the place.
Writing, decorating, collage tutorials, painting, art blog obsessing, composting, cooking. Basically, I've been in artistic overload. I blame it on spring time. The roses are pruned, merchandisers are bringing out the poppy reds, kelly greens and yellow papaya and even the wind has lost it's bite.

I get inspired by this transition, and apparently, so do others.

As you've might have noticed, I've been pursuing a great many art/craft/lifestyle blogs out there and have been compelled to share my findings with you. Don't worry, I'll stop. Because the truth is I have a manuscript I need to get out the bloody (yet freshly painted) door.
Yet these creative inspirations are overpowering my need to write. So about a month ago, I decide to create a journal. It's a spiral bound sketch pad actually, but the thing is, it's a place where I can place all my random thoughts.


If I'm inspired by a magazine article or image...rip...out it goes and placed in my book.

Believe it or not, I actually took a class on creating journals and sketchbook in college. I know. Crazy. But it was fashion design college. The instructor actually graded us on how creative we could make the sketchbook look. We were encouraged to add color samples, fabric swatches, photographs, articles, etc. The more snippets of info we placed inside earned us a higher grade. I never understood what the heck she was talking about. I mean, I got the assemblage part, but what was the purpose and why was she grading us on it? In my mind, she was crazy.

But now, twenty five years later, I get it. Journalling helps de-clutter the mind. I think the brain must sense when we actually do something with our creative impulses, however small, and then lets us move on.
Thats what is happeneing to me. I can satisfy the urge for a few minutes, then get back to the real task at hand. All the while knowing, that my ideas are safely out there.

My writing pal, Maggie, blogs on the different writing conference choices you have on the West Coast. She's been to four biggies in the past few years. You can find the link here.

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Did you know there is a magazine devoted to the artistic side of blogging? Neither did I until a blog I was reading mentioned Artful Blogging, a magazine devoted to creative blogs. I've been super immersed in craft and art blogs lately and, as a result, been spending a great deal of time posting and redesigning my art blog, Deep Space Sparkle. So, to keep the inspiration at peak levels, I went to Borders and looked for the magazine. I found it quickly, mostly because the cover was extraordinary. Inside, there were endless pages of beautiful blogs, featuring exquisite photos and inspiring stories.
If you've ever wondered why you blog (you know the feeling) then this magazine will help justify your passion. There are helpful tips and nuggets of info that can help make your blog better, more appealing and even reach a bigger audience.
This post wasn't meant to serve as a review of the magazine. If it was, I'd mention that there were too many beautiful photos and not enough nuts 'n bolt instruction.

Just came off a five day weekend and let me tell you, it was exactly what I needed. I literally pounded through my Greenwood Girl revisions. I was on fire. Rain drops pattered against my window. My husband brought me tea. The kids were off with their friends. Nothing like five days of uninterrupted time.
God, I love my life.

I didn't write for the entire weekend. For Valentine's Day, I made individual hazelnut soufflé's for my family. All I can say is that it is the best damn dessert I've ever made. Here is the recipe. It's from the television show, Everyday Italian. I can't recommend it enough. It's a dessert worthy of special occasions but it was incredibly easy. I can still taste the Frangelico....oh, so good.

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I'm taking time over a few posts to discuss novel writing. This week I'm going to talk about confidence in your unique vision. Alexander Pope, an English poet, wrote a famous verse: Essay on Critique. He understood the artifice of criticism. I really think that authors will just hand over too much power to others. We all want approval and blessing. For that approval and blessing, we will throw away our vision for an offhand comment by a supposed expert.

I think to write a really good novel you have to be willing to be a fool. Like Pope shared in his poem, you have to rush into a place where angels dare not tread. You have to be sooo hopeful -- bursting with hope. There is an agony to creating books, and you will have to embrace that agony if you wish to write a book that will stir the hearts of readers. It’s really painful to write a novel. And after you managed to spin out the first draft, it’s painful to hear critique of that novel.

What are you to do? Always remember the first audience of your work is you.
Write the story you want to read, and when searching for critiques, find people who share your passion for your work. I really wouldn’t take advice from someone who didn’t care deeply about my work. I want to passion on every level of my work, and people that are weighing in on my work need to be invested. So many writers want an editor of a major publishing house to look at their work. They fork over piles of cash at conferences to have a disinterested soul cast tired eyes on their words.Is this really all that helpful?

But we want to sell work! Well, if no one but your critique group shows any passion for your work, be happy you have a critique group and keep working. I firmly believe you gift will make a place for you. I think that it is useful to give yourself freedom to not listen to the popular opinions of the hour. We tend to chain ourselves with ideas of what the market wants, or the blinding hope that a publisher will be interested in this work if we will rip out half the plot and recast all the main characters.

In the end you, you must write your heart out. Write the story that burns within you. Don’t let all outside voices stop you. If you fail, let it be when you are “daring greatly.”

Think about this quote and then fearless follow your vision:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.


Theodore Roosevelt

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